OpenPages and ACL Services Announce Partnership to Provide a Fully Integrated SOX Compliance and Operational Risk Management Solution

Market Wire, February, 2006

OpenPages and ACL Services Ltd. today announced a joint technology integration that provides organizations with a comprehensive solution to effectively and efficiently identify, measure, monitor and manage governance, risk and compliance information throughout the enterprise. The partnership combines OpenPages' governance, risk and compliance management (GRCM) solutions and ACL's continuous controls monitoring (CCM) capabilities to provide automated tracking and reporting on key processes in support of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance and operational risk management initiatives.

"Success in governance, risk and compliance management requires a system of record for every significant process, risk and control in the enterprise, which can integrate with best-in-class solutions to heighten transparency and increase efficiency," said Michael J. Duffy, president and CEO of OpenPages. "By integrating with ACL, OpenPages customers gain powerful continuous compliance monitoring capabilities that serve as real-time key risk indicators and ensure accuracy and integrity in financial reporting."

"While regulatory compliance requirements may be the catalyst to validate controls effectiveness, best practices in corporate governance are also good business," said Harald Will, president and CEO of ACL. "This product integration provides our mutual clients with additional value and improved oversight into tracking and testing a company's internal controls. With OpenPages' GRCM system of record and ACL's continuous controls monitoring of key business processes collaborating in one risk and compliance solution, organizations gain unparalleled assurance for evolving governance requirements."

The combination of OpenPages and ACL elevates automated controls testing by providing continuous insight into areas of potential compliance and business risk across an organization. For example, when ACL's CCM finds an exception in a control, a failed test result is recorded in OpenPages and the business process owner is automatically notified to take corrective action through OpenPages' business process automation capabilities.

ACL's CCM solutions provide an independent control review mechanism to help organizations assure the effectiveness of internal controls, reduce operational risks, minimize profit erosion, and mitigate the risk of fraud, while meeting increasing regulatory requirements. CCM tests have been designed to support the COSO (Committee of Sponsoring Organizations) internal controls framework, recognized as the standard for enabling compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. CCM solutions identify errors, fraud, and inefficiencies by independently checking and validating transactions against specified control parameters and business rules. Management and business process owners receive timely notification of control breaches, and can quickly review and resolve potential problems before they escalate.

OpenPages GRCM solutions improve corporate accountability, reduce disclosure process costs, assure organizational performance and increase stakeholder confidence via a unified system of record for every significant process, risk and control throughout the enterprise. The company's portfolio of solutions includes SOX Express, the market-leading enterprise application for automating the compliance requirements of Sections 404 and 302 of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and OpenPages ORM, an enterprise risk management software solution that enables entities to identify, measure, monitor and manage operational risk on an integrated, company-wide basis.

About ACL Services Ltd.

ACL Services Ltd. is the leading global provider of Business Assurance Analytics to financial executives, compliance professionals, and auditors. Combining market-leading data analysis software and professional services expertise, ACL solutions give organizations confidence in the accuracy and integrity of the transactions and the effectiveness of the internal controls underlying increasingly complex business operations.

Since 1987, ACL's proven technology has enabled financial decision-makers to assure controls compliance, reduce risk, detect fraud, minimize losses, enhance profitability, and achieve fast payback. ACL delivers its solutions in more than 130 countries through a global network of ACL offices and channel partners. Our customers include 70 percent of the Fortune 500 companies and over two-thirds of the Global 500, as well as hundreds of national, state, and local governments, and the Big Four public accounting firms.

About OpenPages

Founded in 1996, OpenPages develops enterprise governance, risk and compliance management (GRCM) solutions that optimize internal controls, reduce risk exposures and empower effective corporate oversight. OpenPages solutions improve corporate accountability, reduce disclosure process costs, assure organizational performance and increase stakeholder confidence via a unified system of record for every significant process, risk and control throughout the enterprise. The company's portfolio of solutions includes SOX Express, the market-leading enterprise application for automating the compliance requirements of Sections 404 and 302 of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and OpenPages ORM, an enterprise risk management software solution that enables entities to identify, measure, monitor and manage operational risk on an integrated, company-wide basis.